Days of Silver Linings
by Pozagee
Summary: As the pressures of being a teenager in a world that is being torn apart by war heighten, Harry and friends find some silver linings in the form of strange Muggle phrases. Main Characters: Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, Professor Snape, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Ginny, Luna, Professor Thrall etc.


**_Days of Silver Linings_**

**_Summary: As the pressures of being a teenager in a world that is being torn apart by war, Harry and friends find some silver lings in the form of strange Muggle phrases._**

**_Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Draco, Ginny, Luna, Prof. Snape…etc. Basically everyone at Hogwarts is, or will be at least mentioned, if they don't have a main part. There is an OC, but she's mostly just used as a plot device—not really a main character, and she's not paired with ANYONE! (Believe me, no one hates OC/canon character more than me)._**

**_Warnings:_**

**_*Cursing (Ron's "bloody hell")_**

**_*Mild violence (Hermione's punishing Ron for his "bloody hell")_**

**_*Mild sexual content (basically all talk, as most sixteen year olds do)_**

**_*Flirting (goes with warning above)_**

**_*Some slash-like implications (nothing more than what happened in AVMP)_**

**_*OOC Draco (due to my watching of AVMP)_**

**_*OC (See character notes)_**

**_Quick note: Been a while since I've written for this fandom. Stretches Good to be back! XD_**

**OoooOoooO**

The Welcoming Feast always seemed to get better each year, though the ritual hardly ever changed. First, the teachers and every student except for the first years would file in, taking their places at their respective tables. Headmaster Dumbledore would then stand tall, shushing everyone as McGonagall escorted the first years in. The sorting ceremony would take place, followed by Dumbledore's "speech" and then the feast itself. There would also be the introducing of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher sometime in between the "speech" and the feast.

However, one year, there was a slight change in the usual itinerary.

When the older students filed in, they noticed a few things different. 1: There was a large balding man sitting in Professor Snape's usual spot, 2: Professor Snape was sitting in the chair that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher usually sat, and the least noticeable difference, 3: There was an unfamiliar woman sitting where the usual Muggle Studies teacher usually sat.

"There are two new teachers this year!" Hermione stated the obvious sounding quite excited. "Perhaps they started a new class! Oh, I hope that I'll be able to take it-"

"Hermione, calm down!" Ron laughed. "The woman probably just replaced Professor Burbage. And the guy's just the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Hermione pouted, knowing it was true, but upset that there wasn't going to be any new opportunities.

"His name is Professor Slughorn. He's the one that Dumbledore took me to see over the summer," Harry said, as they settled down. At their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. "He seemed nice enough, I guess. I just hope he'll be better than the last few we've had."

Neville and Ginny sat down. "Maybe you should start up "you know what" again," Neville said to Harry, causing the others to blink.

""You know what"?" Hermione asked.

Neville nodded. ""You know what"."

Harry glanced between the two, before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Can you please just say the actual names of things? There are too many vague names for things in the Wizarding World."

Neville blushed, before leaning forward conspiringly. "Dumbledore's Army, Harry."

Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think that's a good idea, right now..."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at Hermione. "Why? If the new guy isn't doing his job-"

Ron yawned suddenly. "Can we talk about this later? I'm tired and hungry."

Hermione rolled her eyes, and Harry and Nevilel laughed. Ginny looked like she was going to make a smart-aleck remark, but a couple of girls from her dorm called her over. She sighed irritably, before walking away.

Harry watched her, raising an eyebrow. "What's up with her?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Who knows. Hey! Here come the firsties!" he exclaimed, probably more excited about what came after the sorting than the actual event itself. "Mate, I'm sure we weren't that small when we first got here. They get smaller every year, I swear..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Or maybe you get bigger?"

Ron shook his head stubbornly, rudely gesturing to a couple of the first years that were currently walking by their table. "Nah, I always remember being this tall." Neville, Hermione, and Harry shared a look.

"Augustus, Noel," McGonagall read off the first name. A dark haired girl stepped forward, confidence seeming to roll off her.

"Slytherin, I bet," Ron said. Harry nodded in agreement. Seamus, however, leaned across the table, pushing his newsboy hat out of his eyes.

"I bet you five Sickles she's a Ravenclaw." Ron smirked.

"You're on."

The hat was barely on the girl's head a second before it gave a loud proclamation of, "RAVENCLAW!"

Ron glared at Seamus, who shrugged. "Luck o' the Irish, I 'spose." Harry, Neville, and Dean (who had scooted over to join their group) laughed.

Dean slapped Ron's shoulder. "Come on, mate. You have about thirty more chances to redeem yourself. Just don't bet too high; Seamus is scary good at this."

Seamus smirked at his best friend. "Maybe I should take Divination instead of Ancient Runes."

Harry shook his head. "No, your spectacular powers would probably give Treelawny an aneurism." The group of boys cracked up once again, causing Snape to glare at them.

Hermione—who had been sitting there silently whilst turning very red—muttered, "Boys," under her breath. She then turned to them. "This is an age-old ceremony, and it should be given the respect and honor it deserves."

Ron gave her an innocent look. "Did "Hogwarts: A History" tell you that?"

She huffed, turning away. "Unbelievable! So immature..."

Ron frowned briefly at her, wondering what was making her so uptight. He almost voiced his question, but his friends silently gestured for him not to; even they knew that asking that question would only make things worse. Harry gave a slight smile, marveling at how naive Ron was with girls.

By the end of the boys' game, Seamus was rich, Dean and Harry came out even, and Ron was 5 Galleons in debt. Neville had abstained from playing, fearing the wrath of Hermione. Ron was muttering under his breath, occasionally names like, "Gav Levesque", "Kadia Graham", and "Charlie Hunter" being mingled in with curse words.

When Dumbledore stood at his lectern, the gilded owl spreading it's wings, Ron's bad mood immediately lifted. "Yay food!" he exclaimed quietly, scooping up his utensils.

Hermione gave him a half-amused, half-annoyed look. "Not yet, Ronald. He still has to introduce the new professors."

Ron groaned loudly, causing several people to look at him. McGonagall shot him a warning look, to which he returned with the same innocent look he had tried on Hermione earlier.

"I don't care about then right now. We'll meet then when we meet them. I just want food."

Harry leaned over, whispering in a mock-Hermione voice, "Patience Ronald," causing Ron to snort.

Dumbledore smiled at the Great Hall as a whole, somehow that simple gesture of true happiness and kindness lifting peoples' spirits a bit. With the war going on, things were tough all over, and people could only distract themselves and fake their happiness so much...

"Welcome all, to another fascinating year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he began. "I know that this past year was not the best, and that we all encountered many hurdles—hurdles, which I may say, we overcame as a school. I doubt this year will be different, for there will always be problems, no matter what's going on. But I am sure you will make the best of your time here, and that this will be a very great year.

"I am sure you have all noticed the new faces here at the staff table. I would like you to warmly welcome Professors Slughorn and Thrall to Hogwarts." The four house tables clapped respectively, none obviously knowing much about either person. "Professor Thrall will be replacing the newly retired Professor Burbage as Muggle Studies teacher, and Professor Slughorn will be our Potions Master."

There was a stunned silence. Everyone could care less about the Muggle Studies professor, for everyone was focused on the plump man on the end, their minds whirling a mile-a-minute. In the few seconds pause between Dumbledore's last statement and the statement he had yet to say, nearly everyone had came to the same conclusion.

"Professor Snape, our previous Potions Master, will now be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher-"

The whole school immediately erupted into hushed whispers, gossip and speculations already flying. Dumbledore continued to speak, but figuring he was just going over standard rules, everyone ignored him.

Ron's eyes darted from friend to friend, and he kept chanting, "Snape? Snape? Snape Snape Snape... Snape?!" under his breath like a very odd curse.

Dean and Seamus turned to each other already discussing how horrible everything would be. Neville just sank back in his chair, looking completely defeated; the previous year, he had actually gotten quite good at DADA, but if Snape was the Professor for that class...it was just hopeless.

Hermione was trying to think on the bright side of things. "Well...well at least he'll be able to teach us! I mean, he has a lot of experience with the Dark Arts-"

"-hell yeah he does," Harry cut in.

Hermione shot him a glare. "But he'll be able to teach us good. Remember..." She leaned in close, at that time. "He's part of the Order. Dumbledore trusts him. If Dumbledore trusts him, we should too-"

"Hermione, he's a bloody spy! He's a bloody traitor-" Harry said, but was cut off by the sudden appearance of food.

The glimmering feast before everyone seemed to knock some sense back into them, for everyone went back to their happy state previous to the dreaded announcement.

Hermione gave Harry a side-long look. "We'll talk about this later."

Harry sighed heavily. "Yes, Aunt Hermione." At the title, Hermione blushed dark red, and Ron cracked up, spewing food all over everyone.

"Ronald!" Hermione shouted, disgusted. "Chew with your mouth closed!"

"Yes, Aunt Hermione," Ron said, mimicking Harry.

Hermione's face turned even redder, if that was possible. "Don't call me "Aunt Hermione"!"

**OoooOoooO**

Harry, Dean, Seamus, and Neville were sitting at their usual spot in the common room playing Exploding Snap. Hermione and Ron had headed off to McGonagall's office to pick up the schedules.

They arrived a few minutes later, right as Seamus's fifth card exploded causing his hat to fly clear off his head and onto Colin Creevey's head across the room. The younger boy blinked in confusion, as Seamus groaned.

Dean laughed. "You should stick to betting, mate. Your luck with explosives isn't the best." Seamus walked over to Colin, ripping his hat away.

"You don't say?"

Harry smiled, before looking at Ron and Hermione, who both held in their hands large stacks of papers. "What have we got here?"

Ron set his stack on one of the coffee tables, pulling a few of the papers from the top. "Dunno. Haven't really looked at them yet." He handed the schedules around to their respective owners.

Harry leaned back, his eyes scanning over his schedule. He smiled, when he saw that he had a free period right before Transfiguration he would be able to get some last minute homework done, if need be.

"Oi...Ron, my schedule's wrong," Dean said, holding it out. Both Hermione and Ron leaned over it confused.

"What do you mean?"

Seamus sank down beside Dean, looking over his own schedule. "Mine's messed up too."

Harry looked back to his schedule, and like the others, noticed something off. "Yeah, I didn't sign up for Muggle Studies."

"That's what's wrong with mine too," Dean said. Seamus nodded in agreement.

Ron leaned over the stack, shuffling the papers around. "They must have made an error...all of these have Muggle Studies on them."

Hermione frowned, when she looked at her schedule. "I would be fine with having an extra class...but I would rather have one that challenges me." Ron groaned.

"Well, let's collect the schedules and return them to McGonagall."

"Well...actually..." Neville started, causing everyone to give him a confused look. His ears turned very red. "Dumbledore said something while everyone was talking about Snape being the new DADA teacher..."

Ron plopped down on the floor beside him. "Well, go on! What'd he say?"

Neville shifted under everyones' scrutinizing gazes. "Well, I don't remember his exact words...but he basically said that we'd all have to take Muggle studies this year..."

Ron exploded. "What?! Why?! Muggle Studies is so pointless and it's probably even more boring than History of Magic!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "I wouldn't go that far-"

"I would," Ron muttered.

Hermione glared at him irritably. "Professor Dumbledore is probably just trying to broaden the Wizarding World's understanding of Muggles."

Dean rose an eyebrow. "Well, why would he want to do that?"

Hermione sighed shrugging. "I'm just guessing, here. I have no idea why Dumbledore does half the stuff he does anymore."

Ron leaned over, whispering to Harry, "She doesn't understand only half the things he does? Mate, I don't understand anything he does." Harry smiled slightly, nodding in agreement.

"It doesn't make much sense, does it?" Seamus said. Everyone turned to him. "Well, you'd think what with everything going on, he'd be laying on extra defense classes, not Muggle Studies."

Hermione shrugged. "As I said, I don't really understand how his mind works, much anymore."

**OoooOoooO**

Harry liked his schedule pretty well, that year: He had every class with Ron, and most classes with Hermione. The only things he wasn't that big a fan of was 1: having Defense Against the Dark Arts Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, right after 2: Muggle Studies. Typically, Harry would love having DADA that much, but...with Snape? Oh, he was going to hate that. So. Much.

Then before the probable torture-filled class, he would have to sit through one of the most boring classes at Hogwarts. And on top of that, Professor Burbage had retired, leaving an unfamiliar woman in her place.

"What's her name anyway?" Harry asked Ron, who shrugged.

"I dunno. I was kinda too busy freaking out over Snape taking over Defense to really pay attention. I think it might have been Thorn, or something like that."

Hermione shifted the large stack of books in her arms (Harry had no idea when Hermione had managed to already sneak away to the library), before saying, "Her name is Professor Thrall. I did some research-"

"-Oh, here we go," Ron sighed, elbowing Harry.

Hermione gave them a look. "Well, I found out that Thrall is Pureblood name. A pretty old one, too."

Ron rolled his eyes. "So?"

Harry, on the other hand, went serious. "The type that we need to be worried about?" he asked. He didn't like pinning someone as good or bad, based on whether they were Pureblood, or Muggleborn, or anything like that; he was friends with many people of different backgrounds. But...with recent events...you couldn't be tok careful.

"I don't think so, but I wouldn't let your guard down or anything," she said.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Harry and Ron shouted at the top of their lungs, causing Hermione to drop everything on the floor in surprise. They cracked up, bending down to help her.

A shadow suddenly fell over them—well, three shadows, but they were standing so close, they looked like one.

Harry stood up, glaring at Draco, followed quickly by Hermione and Ron. "What do you want?"

Draco raised his eyebrows, a smirk dancing across his lips. "Me? Oh, why nothing." He waved his fingers at the trio, continuing his way on down the hall. "Crabbe! Goyle! Come along."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron watched as the other three walked away, blinking in confusion. Right as they were going around the corner, Draco leaned back, beaming as he shouted, "See you in Muggle Studies~!"

The three friends stood in the hallway, staring after him, their eyes wide and their mouths slightly agape.

Ron was the one to break the silence. "What the bloody hell was that?"

**OoooOoooO**

The Muggle Studies classroom was basically identical to the Transfiguration and Defense classrooms, only it was decorated with several different Muggle items: Model planes and ships, unique clocks, old telephones and cameras, maps, tacked up magazines and newspapers, gardening tools, and other like objects were hung up on the walls and from the ceiling. There were two large bookshelves: One was filled with Muggle Studies textbooks, where the other one was filled with Muggle novels and books (when Hermione saw this, she made a squeaking sound, running over to it). One of the main differences from the other classrooms was the large chalkboard that covered the entire wall.

When the bell rang, everyone settled down into the seats at the desks (Ron had to drag Hermione away from the books). There were sixth years of all Houses in the class, which was actually rather surprising.

"This is a big class," Ron muttered, as he, Harry, Hermione, Dean, Seamus, and Justin Finch-Fletchley crowded around one of the tables.

Harry nodded in agreement, trying to ignore Draco who was staring at him from across the classroom. "Well, Neville said that the whole school's going to have to go to this class…I bet all the classes are really packed."

Justin looked around. "Speaking of which, where is Neville?"

Dean and Seamus looked at each other, looking like they were trying hard not to laugh. Hermione crossed her arms. "What did you do?"

Dean pointed back a few rows, where Neville was sitting surrounded by Lavender Brown, the Patil twins, Cho, and a couple Slytherin girls. He appeared to be very red, as they all stared at him. "We snuck a bit of Fred and George's love potion into their pumpkin juice this morning."

Ron laughed, slapping their backs. "Speaking of which, you guys are becoming the new Gred and Forge, aren't you?"

Hermione pressed her lips together, trying not to smile. "You shouldn't mess with people like that," she reprimanded. "Magic should be used for good. You're effecting peoples' freewill, which isn't good-"

Ron groaned. "It's too early for a moral lesson, Herman. Just relax and have a little fun." Hermione in turn went off on Ron, who went off on her, who went off on him…it was just too familiar a scene for Harry and the others to really pay attention at that point.

"Hey, what's with Draco?" Justin asked, gesturing to the blond boy across the classroom.

Harry shrugged. "No idea. He was acting really weird earlier too."

Seamus laughed slightly. "Maybe one of his goons accidently knocked a screw loose."

Their laughing combined with the random chatting throughout the classroom drowned out the opening and closing of the door. The woman who walked in looked to be in her early-to-mid-forties. Her hair was rather boyish, having been cut short with how curly it was. When she surveyed the class, a large smile overcame her features, displaying her large teeth.

"Hello class!" she said in an obnoxiously loud voice, as she bounced excitedly on her heals.

Everyone fell silent, surprised. No one had ever sounded that excited the first day of school.

They all stared at her with expecting eyes as she continued to do her awkward little dance in front of them. Ron leaned over, whispering into Harry's ear, "She looks like Hermione looked when she first saw those books." Harry covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.

"Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, pouncing on her desk, before thrusting her hand into the air. She then turned to the large chalkboard, scribbling something on it in very sloppy print.

"My name is Professor Thrall!" she exclaimed, displaying her name on the chalkboard. "I'm going to be your Muggle Studies teacher this year! And a fantastic year I'm sure this will be!"

"Somebody's got first year teacher syndrome," Seamus whispered. Dean and Harry who were sitting closest to him cracked up. Hermione elbowed Harry.

"Behave!" she quietly reprimanded.

Professor Thrall didn't seem to notice the commotion, for she continued talking in her loud voice, bouncing on her heals.

"So I'll tell you a bit about myself, alright! I have a little brother Nigel who currently lives in the Magical District of New York in the United States, as a Potions Master! I love…books and music, and all things that have to do with Muggles! And the Wizarding World! Oh, I just love everyone!" she beamed, looking at the class like she was wanting their approval. By that time, everyone in the first row of desks had scooted their desks back about a foot, and—for good measure—were leaning back as well.

"Headmaster Dumbledore told me that I have a very important job this year: To help you to understand Muggles!" She sounded like this was the most exciting task to be assigned in the whole world. "How they live, how they talk, how different AND the same they are to us…"

Someone sitting in the predominately Slytherin part of the classroom said something, which caused those around them to snicker.

She was oblivious, though. She fiddled anxiously with the piece of chalk in her hands. "I have been around Muggles for many years now. And I think that the number one thing that is most confusing to those of the Wizarding World, is things like idioms, similes, metaphors, etcetera." Hermione suddenly leaned forward, her eyes wide with excitement. Ron glanced at Harry, confused.

"I think she was in advanced English in primary school." Ron nodded.

"So, the main focus this year, will be conjoined understanding of Muggles and the Wizarding World!" she yipped, finishing her speech.

Everyone looked at her unimpressed.

The rest of the class consisted of her ranting on and on about how excited she was to be working at Hogwarts, and how wonderful everything in the world was. When she seemingly ran out of steam and things to talk about, she would look around the room, point out something, before continuing talking in her high-energy, high-volume voice.

In conclusion, she talked from the beginning of class to the end of it, nonstop. When the bell rang, everyone left rather quickly.

"That was exhausting," Ron groaned. "And I thought listening to Hermione rant about Tolkien's series was intense."

Hermione stuck her nose up in the air. "I'll have you know that "The Lord of the Ring," trilogy and the prequel are the most brilliant pieces of literature that I have ever read. Have I ever told you that Tolkien managed to create a language the was completely correct phonetically-"

"Yeah, quite a few times," Ron sighed.

Harry yawned. "Just listening to her made me feel like needing to take a nap. Not in the boring type of way, but the coming down off a Chocolate Frog-high type."

Neville suddenly ran up to them, his eyes darting behind him. "You know what's exhausting? Being completely invisible for your whole life, and then all of the sudden, half the girls your age coming onto you."

Seamus smiled. "Well, mate, you've gotten a lot hotter over the summer."

"You think?"

Seamus nodded, pulling his hat off his head and using it to fan himself. "Sizzling."

Dean suddenly wrapped his arms around Seamus's shoulders. "Aw, I thought you thought I was "as hot as a ghost chili pepper"!"

Ron and Harry both clasped their hands over their respective mouths. Hermione blushed deeply, before asking, "You actually said that?"

Seamus looked extremely uncomfortable. Ignoring Hermione's question, turning to Dean and Neville. "Ladies, ladies. You're both beautiful."

**OoooOoooO**

By the time Harry fell onto his four-poster bed, he was even more exhausted than he had been earlier. Snape's class had been OK, he guessed…Snape had basically walked around the classroom, spouting his love for the Dark Arts to the world. Harry and Ron had muttered conspiracies to each other the entire time, much to Hermione's chagrin.

"I bet he's going to give us a bunch of false information, so if we have to go up against someone who uses the dark arts, we'll fail epically," Harry muttered.

Ron yawned stretching out on his own bed. "Either that, or he'll do what he normally does and try to teach us too much, too fast."

Seamus rose his fist, as he finally finished hinging up his life-size football poster. "Here here, to that!" He tossed his hat onto his nightstand. "Hey, what'dja think of the new Muggle Studies teacher."

"She reminded me of Dobby, the House Elf that always hangs around here," Dean said bluntly. There was a brief silence, before they all cracked up. Dean smirked. "Pretty accurate, yeah?"

Neville nodded, giving him a small smile. "Perfectly."

**OoooOoooO**

**_A/N Hello all! *waves* I hope you enjoyed this crazy-long intro! I hope you'll follow/favorite so you can see more, and I would be very VERY grateful if you dropped a little review to tell Miss Pozagee what (if anything) you liked about this! Thanks!_**

**_Edit: _****_ I tried posting this yesterday, but seeing that none of my followers recieved the email, I deleted it. And then everyone got the emails for my updates at 6 am (ugh). So sorry for the confusion!_**

**_Please review!_**


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